Tory defection gives Brown first blood in duel with Cameron

Gordon Brown engineered a pre-emptive strike against David Cameron yesterday by personally securing the defection of senior Tory Quentin Davies on the eve of becoming prime minister.

In behind-the-scenes manoeuvring that completely wrong-footed the Conservatives, Mr Brown met Mr Davies five times over two months in private meetings in his Treasury study to persuade him to change party.

"They not only reassured me that my perception of the Labour party and where it was going was right but in fact Gordon was even more impressive than I could have expected," Mr Davies told the Guardian.

"I felt increasingly enthused by him."

Mr Davies, a member of the shadow cabinet less than four years ago, said he probably would have defected had Mr Blair been staying on in power. But it is clear his personal relationship with the chancellor had proved critical.

Government sources said the two men had become friends when Mr Davies was on the Treasury select committee and Mr Brown was chancellor. They had spoken in Commons corridors several times. But the countdown to defection began when Mr Davies asked his secretary to arrange a meeting with Mr Brown a couple of months ago.

"It's not an emotional decision. I have thought about it very carefully," he said last night. "The final trigger in the last couple of weeks has been the utterly shameless cynicism of the policy they put forward in relation to Iraq."

The "purely cynical" move to oppose targets in the NHS and the withdrawal from the centre-right EPP-ED in the European parliament were further spurs.

Mr Davies said he finally decided to make the move at noon on Monday. He met Mr Brown twice that day.

Fiona Gordon, secretary of the parliamentary Labour party, and Ian Austin, the chancellor's bag-carrier - both veterans of previous defections from the Tory benches - were brought in to plan the mechanics of the defection. Tony Blair and Jacqui Smith, the chief whip, were informed. Mr Blair met Mr Davies briefly yesterday morning.

As Mr Davies had requested, he announced his defection by sending a letter to Mr Cameron at 2.45pm. Labour sources said the letter, published in full yesterday, was unaltered. Conservatives, however, claimed it read "like a cut and paste job" by Labour. The first the Conservative leadership knew of it was when it flashed on television news.

In the letter, Mr Davies accused Mr Cameron of having "no bedrock" and existing on "shifting sands".

He told the Tory leader: "Although you have many positive qualities you have three, superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions, which in my view ought to exclude you from the position of national leadership to which you aspire and which it is the presumed purpose of the Conservative party to achieve."

Mr Brown issued a statement saying he was "delighted" the MP had handed him such a valuable political gift.

Mr Davies is MP for Grantham and Stamford - including Lady Thatcher's birthplace - and has represented most of the area since 1987. In Westminster he is best known for his pro-European views. But he served as a frontbencher under Eurosceptics William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith, and was Mr Duncan Smith's shadow Northern Ireland secretary.

Last night Mr Davies, 63, insisted he had not been offered nor would he seek a post in Mr Brown's ministerial team. He would consider his future before the next election but planned to stay as an MP in the meantime.

Simon Chapman, the chairman of the Grantham and Stamford Conservative Association, said Mr Davies had "let down his constituents and his local party members very badly".

But senior Conservatives claimed that Mr Davies had never been able to accept Mr Cameron's pro-green, socially liberal agenda. "He's quite grand and old fashioned," said shadow trade secretary Alan Duncan.

In his reply to Mr Davies's letter, Mr Cameron said: "Your decision does not come as a surprise to me. The Conservative party has changed, as you say ... the big dividing line in British politics is between Labour's approach of top down state control and the Conservative vision of pushing power outwards and downwards from central government, trusting people and sharing responsibility with them. You have made your choice and the British people will make theirs."

Winners and losers:

Going up

Ed Balls Thought to be in pole position if he wants a cabinet role.

Yvette Cooper Mr Brown announced on Sunday that the housing minister would attend cabinet, suggesting promotion without switching portfolio.

Liam Byrne Rated for his skill in handling the difficult immigration brief.

James Purnell Only 37, but the pensions minister is a rising star often put up for tricky media appearances.

Lady Scotland Could become leader of the Lords, or take on a revised attorney general role.